This was a reply on another thread, but I figured it warranted its own expanded guide, hopefully it can help more people here.
Here's what I do to have a bearable experience on my 8GB, 1GB ram Osprey while staying as up to date as possible.
I use the Alberto's official Lineage 14.1 ROM with the root patch, as it's the most tested and stable for me.
Nougat runs horribly on 1GB phones compared to MM, and I found the culprit is the Google Search app constantly running in the background. Problem is that the Google Now launcher depends on it, so it's necessary to install another launcher and set it as default. Nova is always great, my new lite favourite is the Go variant of the Rootless Pixel Launcher 3.4. You'll lose dictation and Android Auto, but it's a good tradeoff IMO. The low ram patch doesn't do much, and makes some stuff choppier (and uglier).
For a fresh install my preferred solution is to do a custom install of the 'Aroma' opengapps that:
- Skips the install of Google Search and the Now launcher, and other bloat like Fit that destroys battery life.
- Automatically replaces all the AOSP crud with the updated Play versions (Dialer, Contacts, Messages etc).
- Deletes all the Cyanogen/Lineage stuff (I just keep FM Radio and Audio FX).
This has another upside: by immediately disabling app auto-update after the first boot in the Play app, the Google-provided apps will keep residing in the System partition, without taking up space in the User one. Basically treating it like a iOS install, where the system apps are updated only on OS refreshes. There's plenty of unused space in the System partition, so this allows to have more Google apps that would normally fit on a stock install after a few rounds of constant updates, also leaving more much-needed space for the other apps.
Alternatively it's possible to use the 'System App Remover (ROOT)' app post-install to delete the Google Search app (it will store a backup) and the Now launcher. Same effect, just make sure to install another launcher beforehand.
Other remedies that I found to constantly running out of space on the 8GB variant:
- Configure Spotify to put its extra cache on the SD (if you have it) or it will eat up the User space real quick.
- Install as few apps as possible, use 'Lite' versions of Facebook and Facebook Messenger (crucial).
- Use 'Files to SD Card' and 'Photos to Directories by Date' apps to routinely move Whatsapp media and database backups and Camera pics and videos to SD.
Misc:
- AdAway (installed through F-Droid) makes browsing lighter.
- I use All-In-One Toolbox to do routine cleaning stuff and disable unnecessary apps running at startup, but neither has much impact on performance.
- Motorola camera works better on Osprey than the Google-provided stuff.
Here's what I do to have a bearable experience on my 8GB, 1GB ram Osprey while staying as up to date as possible.
I use the Alberto's official Lineage 14.1 ROM with the root patch, as it's the most tested and stable for me.
Nougat runs horribly on 1GB phones compared to MM, and I found the culprit is the Google Search app constantly running in the background. Problem is that the Google Now launcher depends on it, so it's necessary to install another launcher and set it as default. Nova is always great, my new lite favourite is the Go variant of the Rootless Pixel Launcher 3.4. You'll lose dictation and Android Auto, but it's a good tradeoff IMO. The low ram patch doesn't do much, and makes some stuff choppier (and uglier).
For a fresh install my preferred solution is to do a custom install of the 'Aroma' opengapps that:
- Skips the install of Google Search and the Now launcher, and other bloat like Fit that destroys battery life.
- Automatically replaces all the AOSP crud with the updated Play versions (Dialer, Contacts, Messages etc).
- Deletes all the Cyanogen/Lineage stuff (I just keep FM Radio and Audio FX).
This has another upside: by immediately disabling app auto-update after the first boot in the Play app, the Google-provided apps will keep residing in the System partition, without taking up space in the User one. Basically treating it like a iOS install, where the system apps are updated only on OS refreshes. There's plenty of unused space in the System partition, so this allows to have more Google apps that would normally fit on a stock install after a few rounds of constant updates, also leaving more much-needed space for the other apps.
Alternatively it's possible to use the 'System App Remover (ROOT)' app post-install to delete the Google Search app (it will store a backup) and the Now launcher. Same effect, just make sure to install another launcher beforehand.
Other remedies that I found to constantly running out of space on the 8GB variant:
- Configure Spotify to put its extra cache on the SD (if you have it) or it will eat up the User space real quick.
- Install as few apps as possible, use 'Lite' versions of Facebook and Facebook Messenger (crucial).
- Use 'Files to SD Card' and 'Photos to Directories by Date' apps to routinely move Whatsapp media and database backups and Camera pics and videos to SD.
Misc:
- AdAway (installed through F-Droid) makes browsing lighter.
- I use All-In-One Toolbox to do routine cleaning stuff and disable unnecessary apps running at startup, but neither has much impact on performance.
- Motorola camera works better on Osprey than the Google-provided stuff.
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